Purchasing Articles

Successful purchasing organizations are increasingly aware that they must put an end to "silo buying" and begin to form and utilize cross-functional teams. In order to increase coordination, internal linkages, communication, resource utilization, focus, efficiency, creativity, and overall effectiveness, cross-functional teams must be trained and developed to assist in guiding the purchasing process. Read More

ProcureCon USA, an event for procurement executives at Fortune 1000 manufacturing companies, returns to Atlanta on October 15-17 with a program that focuses on some of today’s hottest issues--talent management, supplier continuity and global sourcing. Read More

As the oldest affiliate of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), PMABoston has been a regional and national leader in supporting and advancing the purchasing profession through professional development, business survey data collection, and minority business development. True to its roots, purchasing is reflected in its title but the tagline of ‘The Association for Supply Professionals’ reflects the changing profession and membership. Read More

The 2012 OfficeMax Office Products Industry Study finds suppliers excel at customer service, delivery and quality. More than half of procurement operations in the Study rate their supplier as excellent at providing customer service; 41.3% give their supplier an equally high mark for handling delivery issues and 36% give similar kudos for quality performance. Read More

Travel procurement professionals and other executives gathered in Boston this week for the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) annual convention are talking about the effect the downturn in Europe is having on the U.S. economy. Read More

As sales and operations planning becomes a greater focus, Procurement attention on pricing will include inventory requirements and flexibility to meet customer demands. This levels the playing field for the U.S. and near-shore suppliers that traditionally could not compete with Asia. Read More

The biggest impact of the Chinese exodus will be on manufacturing sourcing strategies as companies seek less costly production locations or move their plants closer to places where consumer demand is greatest Read More

Gone are the days that most of the work happened within a single facility, or at worst a few factories close to each other. Supply chains of today are increasingly global and can face disruption by political unrest, adverse weather events, accidents, or even the normal perturbations of human endeavor. Improving supply chains Read More

Developing a world-class analytics capability is about far more than consolidating terabytes of enterprise data into a reporting data warehouse. Rather, it’s about using that data to change the organizational culture, drive revenue, and improve the quality, service, and cost of care. Read More